mad, mad world
by ephemeral fallacy
Summary: Shintaro hasn't touched his Pokeballs in years. Not after Ayano was killed. But when Momo is ready for her adventure, he can't help but accompany her and get sucked back into the world that he so wanted to throw away—alt!title is PokeProject—various hinted pairings—rating may change
1. prologue: the presence of aging

**i don't own KagePro/Mekakucity Actors and i don't own the Pokemon world**

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Shintaro doesn't know how long it has been since he last took out his Pokemon.

The red and white balls sit snugly in the belt that he had taken off years ago and never put back on. The red cap he wore back then sits on his desk like a fading memory, dust collecting on its brim. The young man never found time, or maybe he doesn't have the heart, to clean it.

The blinds are closed tightly so that not even a sliver of light peeks into his room. Shintaro's eyes are accustomed to the pitch-black outline of his room. But it's not silent like he wants it to be. Even from the highest floor of the house, the male can hear muted voices and the sound of plates clinking together.

He doesn't know what day it is, or what the time is. The clock in his room has broken a long, long time ago.

He has never bothered to fix it.

Shintaro heaves himself out of bed and lazily attaches a red jacket around himself, before hanging a pair of headphones around his neck. It is comfortable in his room and he doesn't ever want to leave as he fits himself in his chair. Dark shadows hang around his eyes, like little ghosts, as his finger gloss over the computer he created painstakingly using Pokedollars scrounged together after all his battling money ran out.

As his screen fizzles to life, illuminating him and his room in a glorious blue light, he reaches over to grab a soda bottle.

"Ah." A noise escapes his mouth as he realizes that the bottle is empty, a single drop of cola left at the bottom. He shuffles his slippers backwards, pushing the chair with a squeak.

His gait is one of an old man and his gaze is almost completely blank.

Pushing open his door, bright sunlight blinds him and he lets out a gasp involuntarily. Sleeves rise up to cover his eyes, but he forages on, the massive amount of crushed soda cans and empty bottles in his arms threatening to spill out. He passes a room, too familiar to stare into: a library, filled with papers and books that he used to read voraciously.

Time had changed Shintaro, and not for the better.

"Ah, Shin-nii!"

The young man turns his head with a mildly annoyed expression and sees orange. His little sister, Momo, waves with a bright smile on her face. It annoys him, looking at her smile.

"Hi," he manages to breathe out and stumbles his way to the trash can, unaware that the smile on her face drops into a straight line. Her eyes dim and her hands fall to her sides limply.

"Shin-nii…it's my first day…"

Shintaro's head snaps up and his eyes widen. Momo looks at him, her fingers fiddling with themselves as if they have their own mind. She still looks so young, and in her eyes, his reflection looks so old, so _tired_.

"Of?" He knows what she's talking about, but he wants to play dumb. He wants her to deny what his mind is telling him. _That she's old enough and that she'll realize the world is harsher than the stories tell her. That she'll be hurt, in the end, just like him, because that's how the world works._

"With my Pokemon," she snaps and her eyebrows furrow downwards. "I hate it when you act like this."

She whirls away and Shintaro wonders what she means. He reaches for the refrigerator and pulls it open to simply re-pile bottles of soda in his arms. They lay there innocently, daring him to open them and take a sip. Just looking at them makes his tongue salivate, tasting the sweet, crisp, cold flavor. But when he does, it doesn't taste like sugar; it tastes like _poison_.

He blinks and his nose wrinkles. He knows why, realizing that a small part of him is worried about his sister, just because she's his sister.

"Momo!"

He sticks the bottles of cola back into the refrigerator except for the one he had drank from and pads his way through the house. Posters of Pokemon and idols and Coordinators cover the walls and it almost pisses him off. Makes him want to punch a wall. "Momo?"

He sees her curled up in the library, on the soft, blue cushion that he normally sat in when he used to read in the library. She hides her eyes, but the gentle shaking of her shoulders tells him that indeed, she is crying.

"Momo…" Shintaro doesn't know what to say. She doesn't look up and doesn't make it any easier for him to apologize.

Shintaro reaches out, but before he can even touch her shoulder, she looks up and the young man's heart squeezes. Painfully.

He opens his mouth and a whisper, barely audible, "Sorry. Do...do you want me to go with you?"

She looks equally surprised and Shintaro reels backwards, his expression not awestruck, but now just extremely horrified.

"Do you really mean that?" Momo quickly wipes all her tears, then all of a sudden, it feels like her hopeful face exudes sparkles and flowers. Her brother just can't crush that. He sighs and beats himself in his head.

"Yeah...let's go see Professor Tateyama," Shintaro replies, wondering where he went wrong in the morning.

He really didn't ask to venture on another journey that would only remind him of what he was running from in the first place.

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**a/n: **So I'm surprised no one has written this cross-over yet. This has sat in my mind for a while now, so I thought it'd be a good time to churn this out. Right in finals week. Thanks for helping me procastinate.  
-**Yuu**

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	2. momo and shintaro and—

**i don't own pokemon or mekakucity actors/kagepro**

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"Momo! Shin-chan! Be careful, okay?" The sibling's parents called out, waving, with a dollop of tears in their eyes. "Ah...my girl is growing up and Shin-chan has seen the outside world for the first time in 2 years..."

The orange-haired girl seemed like she had a spring in her legs by the way she was bouncing around the beaten path. Shintaro, on the other hand, had his collar zipped all the way up and his shoulders were slumping. However, both of their legs kept moving, feet moving to a place familiar to both of them: Professor Tateyama's laboratory.

"Look, look, Shin-nii! It's his lab, we're almost there!" Momo's skipping steps sped up into a full-out sprint, the orange side ponytail she wore streaming backwards like a banner.

"Oi! Momo!" The black-haired young man didn't have her enthusiasm and didn't chase after her either. Just looking at the chrome-colored building made his stomach turn unpleasantly. He had been here many times before, a happier, younger self, he meant. "God, you can be such a pain."

Shintaro watched as his bouncy little sister rapped on the door, checked the handle, and then let herself inside. He sighed and shook his head. The heat from the sun was making his neck a little sweaty, so he unzipped his jacket slightly.

The door was still open and cool air wafted over the slightly burnt-skinned male. Gratefully pulling it open, he forgot why dread was filling his lungs. Three steps in and trouble already found him.

"S...shintaro?" A familiar soft voice slithered its way to his ears.

When he turned, he saw light brown hair and dark eyes that filled with emotions that he mirrored inside of him.

"O-oh...Haruka…" His mouth felt dry when he observed the dark circles and the slight off-balance way the boy held himself. Haruka looked fine, but Shintaro could see past that, and he was sure everyone else could as well. "How...how are you?"

The black-haired boy offered him a weak smile that ended up making his face twist into a grotesque mask. His muscles weren't accustomed to smiling and Haruka could tell. He had been gone for two years anyway.

The brown-haired boy's hands tightened over the sketchbook in his hands. "I'm doing alright, I suppose. I've," he paused for a moment, as if wondering if he should say what was on his mind. "I've missed you, Shintaro."

Shintaro felt his jaw clench and he couldn't speak, couldn't move. Haruka's eyes stared straight into his and they felt empty, completely unlike the boy he had once known and laughed with. _Did two years really change so much?_ They stood for only a moment, but it felt like forever.

The door rudely banging open shocked them into staring at the intruder. A girl, with dark pigtails and dark eyes, stared back at them with a slightly ajar mouth.

"Was I interrupting something?"

Haruka shook his head with a small smile. "It's alright, Hiyori. This is an old friend of mine, Shintaro. He's...cool." The red-jacketed boy noticed the hesitation, but the way he spoke could only be noted as _tender and loving_, as if he hadn't disappeared from the radar for two years. It only made the boy feel guiltier for running away from _her_ death.

"Ah, really?" She tilted her head and he could feel the doubt resonating from her. "Well, I'm going to get my starter, then. Momo already got hers."

Shintaro took a step, but then looked back at Haruka, unsure of what to do.

The soft-spoken boy only offered a tentative smile. "You should probably go with Momo...She's probably with Takane now."

"Where?" Shintaro's voice was suddenly raspy.

"The room to your right, from the Professor's main lab. It was nice seeing you," Haruka began, then shuffled in the bag slung from his shoulder, shifting the sketchbook to his left arm. "You have something to store contacts with?"

Shintaro nodded and murmured, "Traveling regions...has given me a lot more stuff than I need…"

"Ah, well," Haruka sighed and handed the black-haired boy a slip of paper, "Put my number in whatever you're using. Takane's number is also on there, because she probably won't give you hers, but she'll call you anyway. It'll be nice to catch up, right?"

The black-haired boy took the paper and stared at it, the coal pencil marks swarming in front of his eyes. He looked back up and replied, "Thanks. I'll...go grab Momo. Guess I'll call you later, then."

Shintaro turned and began walking, his arm raised in a half-waving position that he wasn't sure if it looked stupid or cool. Haruka wouldn't judge him, though. He never did, not when he was his sullen, moody kid self, or when he was happier and didn't mind holding hands with Ayano in his Academy days.

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The other room felt colder and Shintaro immediately knew why. Glasses glinted from the far corner of the room, and Professor Tateyama Kenjirou's voice died down as the people in the room turned towards him.

"Oh," the lab-coat wearing man pushed his glasses up. "Long time no see, Shintaro." The smile on his face was neither friendly, nor cold.

"Shin-nii! Look at my starter! Professor Tateyama has so many of them to pick from, but I got him!" Momo bounced up and down excitedly, but the girl beside him, sporting the familiar black pigtails and grumpy expression, caught his eye.

As Momo's Pokeball opened to reveal a Chimchar, who quickly scrambled into her arms with a grin, Takane walked a couple steps towards the black-haired boy, a smirk on her face.

"Looks like the former Pokemon _Master _is back." Takane's voice was bitter, but with underlying tones of relief. She came up close to him, and Shintaro stifled a laugh when he noticed her craning her neck up to look at him in the face. "How's _he_ been doing for the past two years? Busy with duties? Or did you give up that position to some other squirt?"

Shintaro raised a hand, and he felt a small smile appearing on his face. She didn't change one bit, and despite her harsh words, his heart was lifted slightly. The male rested his hand on her head, and her expression morphed into one of irritation.

"H-hey!" She barked and scooted backwards, to everyone's muted giggling. "D-don't do that! I'm not short, okay?!"

Her cheeks are tinged with pink and he was reminded of Ayano's cheeks, but he shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

"Takane, it's nice to see you again," Shintaro suppressed the laugh and looked on with a straight face. In the corner, he saw two kids; one of them was the girl with the dark hair and the other was a brown-haired boy. Both of their eyes pierced him and he felt a shiver run down his spine. "I see you're as lively as ever."

She frowned and poked his chest. "And you haven't, at all. Look at that flab!"

Takane snorted and turned away before Shintaro could reply. "Get out of here, twerp!"

The male only watched her antics in amusement. "C'mon, Momo, let's go. I have her number anyway."

He ignored her indignant squawk.

Momo's smile switched on and her Chimchar was sucked back into the Pokeball with a happy chitter. She bounded into action, waving at her friends and calling, "Bye Hiyori, Hibiya, Takane, Professor Tateyama!" And promptly ran into a table and a column consecutively.

Shintaro sighed and facepalmed, having anticipated his sister's clumsiness. "Guess this'll be a long trip."

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**a/n:** Still have AP tests, still procrastinating and I'm going to regret this... Reviews are greatly appreciated, and they'll also make me post faster ;D The more the merrier!  
**- Yuu**

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